It has been 48 years since Alice Waters opened her landmark Berkley restaurant, Chez Panisse, and time has only served to burnish the chef’s credentials as the pioneer of a hot-off-the-fields food movement that has become almost de rigueur. A prolific writer, her reading list helps illuminate the ideas that drive her own approach to food, while simultaneously offering a primer for anyone interested in living a more nutritious, and happier, life.

Below are Alice Waters’s favorite books, available to purchase as a set or individually.

Elizabeth David

I was very lucky that someone gave me this as my first cookbook. David doesn't give a lot in terms of the recipes - "take a handful and throw it in the pan with some garlic" - so you have to think for yourself. And then you figure it out.

Elisabeth Luard

Worth it for the pictures alone - people celebrating the important moments of their lives. There's an Indian banquet where everyone is eating off of leaves, sitting on the floor. One of these days, I'm going to thrown an event like that.

Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein

Who needs a big place to live in? You need a front porch, you need a busy street, you need neighbors to say hello and goodnight to, and you need a bedroom to restore yourself. This is a book you can open on any page. You might find a drawing of the narrow streets of Ethiopia, or a chapter titled, "Dancing in the Streets", which is something people have done forever.

Maira Kalman

I love Maira. She is always talking about this country and how we behave, and looking for the good news. This book is incredibly important to me because it's about Thomas Jefferson and our founding fathers, and how she kind of found them.

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Grand lists is a curated arts site specializing in books and movies selected by 100 public figures and celebrities, ranging from designers, musicians, artists, actors, performers and directors, to politicians, novelists, scientists and athletes.